Kazusa Okuyama is one of the top gravure idols in Japan right now, though she went quiet for a while from the end of last year with few social media updates. The last major gravure-related thing she did was release a 2023 calendar and hold an exhibition with top gravure photographer Chikashi Kasai (both in…

The travails of the Michibata family are set to continue, it seems. After Angelica Michibata’s husband was arrested for extortion, her career and reputation were left in tatters (not least because her involvement in the crime was also suggested). She later divorced her husband and made a comeback with a nude photo book in her…

Once one of the most famous idols in Japan, Mariko Shinoda has divorced her husband of four years. The 37-year-old announced the news on Instagram. A former AKB48 singer who later branched out into acting, Shinoda married an entrepreneur three years her junior in 2019 and gave birth to a daughter in 2020. As reported…

Many moons ago, we had the misfortune to live in a “gaijin house” — one of those sordid guest houses that cater specifically to foreign residents of Tokyo. It wasn’t as bad as some of the horror stories we have heard about such places, but the walls were decidedly thin. One weekend morning, we woke…

We’ve written before about the problem of scams in the Japanese “dating site” industry, where customers think they are interacting with real women who want to meet them but are actually exchanging messages with someone (perhaps even a man) who is trying to ensure they keep paying the membership fees for as long as possible….

One of the most sensational stories that has gripped the Japanese media over the past few weeks has involved the arrests and deportations in the Philippines of several young Japanese citizens, who were allegedly part of the “Luffy group” responsible robbery and fraud since 2021 (including from behind bars). The name of the gang is…

The media narratives about Japan typically conform to a handful of familiar tropes: Japan is a sexless, childless hellscape, or Japan is a kinky, weird land of bountiful sexual fetishes. Of course, neither is true. Japan is just Japan, with all shades and colors. But it is a fact that the population is declining and…

If Instagram is to be believed, everyone has a personal trainer these days and is obsessed with developing the perfect muscles. In Korea, it’s called geongangmi (healthy beauty) and here in Japan it’s led by influencers who moonlight as models and trainers like Rose Melle or Kyoka, or female celebrities who show off their sporty…

Another day, another celebrity adultery scandal. Sometimes it feels like this. But there’s something a little different about the latest (minor) scandal to hit the news. Yukie Joji is herself a reporter. The 48-year-old is currently seen doing live reports twice weekly for a show broadcast on CBC and TBS. Since its employees apparently have…

Has the woke brigade, as some disparagingly call it, finally caught up with Japan? The gentrification of Kabukicho is still ongoing and a new commercial complex, imaginatively called Kabukicho Tower, recently opened in the Shinjuku nightlight and red-light district. Many noted that though it has conventionally gendered toilets on the upper floors, its second-floor restrooms…